Business mailers prepare and process various types of business mail utilizing inserters to collate the sheets and stuff the same into envelopes. Invoices, advertisements for the purchase of goods and/or services, prepaid post cards as well as business reply mail pieces, i.e., business reply envelopes, business reply cards. Business reply mail pieces sometimes are placed in outer envelopes mailed by business mailers to customers. Recipients of business mailers' mail may enclose a check and invoice and/or an advertisement order form in the business reply mail piece and mail it via the United States Postal Service (USPS) to the business mailer. Business mailer recipient customers may also mail the enclosed business reply card back to the business mailer.
The USPS allows a business mailer to receive first class business reply business reply from their customers and pay postage and a fee only for the returned to the mailer from the original distribution of the mailing. Postage and fees are collected when the mailer picks up the business reply mail pieces at his/her local USPS office. The mailer is unaware of how many business reply mail pieces are going to be returned to him/her by his/her customers. For instance, if a mailer mailed one million envelopes containing advertisements with business reply envelopes, the mailer may owe the USPS $9,700.00 if 10,000 business reply mail pieces were returned to the business mailer. If 100,000 business reply mail pieces were delivered to the mailer by the USPS, the mailer would owe the USPS $97,000.00; and if 1,000,000 business reply mail pieces were delivered to the mailer by the USPS, the mailer would owe the USPS $970,000.00.
The USPS has established deposit accounts in which the mailer may deposit money to pay for the business replies that are delivered to the mailer's local USPS office. Since the mailer does not know on a daily basis how many business replies will be delivered to the mailer's local post office, the mailer does not know how much money to keep in his/her deposit account.
Thus, one of the disadvantages of the prior art is that mailers are unaware of the amount of money they are required to place in their deposit accounts on a daily basis; hence, the mailers over fund their deposit accounts, adversely affecting their cash flow.